Let’s face it, every little penny helps at the moment. Bills are increasing and Christmas is just around the corner. We asked our friends at Shropshire Waste to come up with some money saving ideas. The first of their suggestions looks at real nappies, which long term helps to save money but also helps to save the environment.

It’s fair to say that hard pressed families with children could do with watching the pennies right now, and let’s face it, literally throwing away money is the last thing anyone would want to be doing. But that’s exactly what parents who use disposable nappies are doing.

The odd tenner here and there on packets of nappies seems like it’s not a major cost, but have you ever actually sat down and added up the full cost of these regular purchases?

Well from birth to potty your baby will need about 5,000 nappy changes – so you’re talking about spending around £750 on disposable nappies alone! So your decision on nappies will have a big impact on your wallet and the planet. On average during that first two years a baby will produce a tonne of dirty nappies before they’re even potty trained! And disposable nappies cost you twice, as a taxpayer you pay again to have them landfilled. Now that really adds up!

But it doesn’t have to be that way – you can use modern real washable cotton nappies instead. By using real nappies, you can reduce waste and save money. Of course you have to pay up front to buy the washable nappies and the liners (you can kit your baby out with all the real nappy gear they need from the high street for about £250). Then you have to consider washing powder and ever rising electricity costs if you’re washing nappies a lot, but even when you factor this in you could still save £400 compared to buying disposables and double that if you re-use the kit again on a second baby.

Analysis of what’s in our bins in Shropshire has shown that disposable nappies make up about 4% of total household waste. This means an incredible 6,000 tonnes of disposable nappies end up buried in landfill sites in Shropshire every year.

So if you want to help tackle this waste mountain and save yourself some money then contact the Real Nappy Advisory Service via their website http://www.goreal.org.uk/

Advertisements

Share this:

Like this:

Related

5 thoughts on “Save money and the planet with Real Nappies”

Another option is getting the cotton nappies second hand. Although you may initially think ‘yuk’, it’s perfectly possible to deep clean them (google a strip wash for nappies) and you’ve got a set of already broken in nappies.

Depending on the style you go for you may want to buy some new nappy covers, as those don’t last quite as long as the nappies themselves (which go on forever), but some people only use the set for a short while so you might get lucky and get an almost brand new set.

Personally I still used a disposable nappy at night, but that’s seven a week rather than seven a day! I also had some spare disposables in case I got behind in the laundry, but I didn’t need to use them that often.

With a bit of planning and a waterproof bag, it’s also easy to take them out and about. Do some research into the different types – you might, for example, be happy with a nappy and nappy liner at home, but also buy one or two all-in-ones (which are more expensive) to have on the go.

Definately look on e-bay, freecycle, gumtree etc and they are often on there second hand. Like with most baby stuff its hardly been used much and of course the actual nappy itself is lined with flushable liners so are perfectly good to re-use again and again

I run a nappy library in Oswestry so you can see the different types of nappies and possibly try them before you decide to buy them all for free or a small deposit. so your not gonna waste money on the wrong ones for you and your baby just google for your nearest library they will help anyone we are Oswestry Real Nappy Library on facebook